Viability of Biopolymers for Enhanced Oil Recovery |
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| Authors: | Marte Sveistrup Frank van Mastrigt Jens Norrman Francesco Picchioni |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands;2. Ugelstad Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway |
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| Abstract: | Xanthan gum and scleroglucan are assessed as environmentally friendly enhanced oil recovery (EOR) agents. Viscometric and interfacial tension measurements show that the polysaccharides exhibit favorable viscosifying performance, robust shear tolerance, electrolyte tolerance, and moderate interactions with surfactants. Non-ionic surfactants and anionic surfactants bind to xanthan gum and transform the backbone conformation from a strong helix to a more flexible structure, reducing the viscosifying efficacy of xanthan. In contrast, non-ionic surfactants and anionic surfactants bind to scleroglucan and increase the viscosifying efficacy by non-electrostatic interactions or imparted electrostatic effects. The two polysaccharides are technically viable as viscosifying agents in typical EOR injection fluid formulations. |
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| Keywords: | EOR scleroglucan xanthan gum |
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